误
wù · HSK 6
mistake
❌ wù sounds like 'woops!' — the noise you make after a mistake
The character combines 讠(words) + 吴 (a phonetic component). When your words go wrong — woops! — that's an error. 误会 means misunderstanding, 错误 means mistake.
误 — speech radical 讠 + 吴 wú (phonetic)
误 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 讠 (speech) hints at meaning—originally tied to mistaken or misleading words—while 吴 supplies the sound. Over time it broadened from verbal errors to any mistake, delay, or harm caused by error.